Finding Our Own Silence

Michael Casey offered a beautiful thought in his book Truthful Living: St. Benedict’s Teaching on Humility: “Each of us needs to find our own silence. Unless we do, we will never find our hearts.”

At first glance, this statement might seem curious. Silence is the absence of sound, isn’t it? How then can we each have our own silence?

There actually are different types of silence—tense silence, weary silence, fearful silence, reverent silence. The silence we need to find is the type that, as Casey says, facilitates the soul’s attention to God. It is there we will find our heart.

Each of us finds that kind of silence in a different way. For some people, it might be a solitary walk in a park; for others, prayer in a hushed church before mass begins; and for yet others, sitting in companionable silence with a spouse or close friend. Maybe for you, the silence after a beautiful piece of music facilitates your attention to God, or your rapt presence while bird watching, or the moment after you awaken and give thanks for another day.

Sound is a blessing, of course, but too much of it can distract and divert us from awareness of God’s presence, which is generally unobtrusive. Jesus found this to be true, even though he lived before the age of radio, television, and computers; he needed to get away from the noisy crowds that often surrounded him and frequently slipped away late at night or early in the morning to a deserted place to be with God. We can follow his example and find our own heart by seeking the silence that leads us to an awareness of God who is always with us.